Total bridges
188
Public highway bridges in Kennebec County
County profile · official public datasets
Kennebec County, ME
188 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.1% rated Good, 67.6% Fair, 13.3% Poor.
- 188
- Public bridges
- 19.1%
- Good condition
- 13.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Kennebec County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 44%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 13.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 188
- public highway bridges
- 1965
- avg year built
Poor is an FHWA condition category from the lowest applicable component rating (4 or below), not a live crossing-safety or closure decision. Rankings cover counties with at least five public highway bridges.
Kennebec County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kennebec County ranks #7 of 16 Maine counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.3%). Kennebec County, Maine contains 188 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.1% are rated “Good,” 67.6% “Fair,” and 13.3% “Poor.” Poor means the lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 NBI scale. It is a condition category, not a live safety or closure decision.
Responsible agencies inspect covered bridges on risk-based intervals under current NBIS rules and submit inventory data to FHWA annually. The list below shows every NBI-tracked bridge in the county. Use the “Sort by” controls to change the ordering, and click any row for its reported inspection date, traffic count, and condition fields.
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory. See methodology for full definitions.
Good condition
19.1%
36 of 188 rated 7-9
Fair condition
67.6%
127 of 188 rated 5-6
Poor condition
13.3%
25 of 188 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#7 of 16
Among Maine counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 188 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 19.1% (36)
Fair 67.6% (127)
Poor 13.3% (25)
Kennebec County's Poor-condition bridges carry 84,771 vehicle crossings a day
That is 8.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,391 crossings a day against 4,724 for a Good-condition one. A Poor rating is a condition category, not a closure or a live safety judgement; it means the lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below.
Computed over the 188 of 188 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
74.5% of Kennebec County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
140 of the 188 bridges with a recorded construction year were built in 1974 or earlier. Age alone is not a defect: a well-maintained older bridge can rate Good, and 19.1% of this county's inventory does. Even so, this older cohort is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn, which is why the age profile below matters alongside the condition split above.
Cutoff derives from the 2024 release year minus a 50-year design life. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
One structure carries 20% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
WESTERN AV over INTERSTATE 95 NB & SB, built 1955, carries 16,934 vehicles a day, the most of any Poor-rated structure here. The county's Poor-condition exposure is concentrated rather than evenly spread, so the 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 84,771 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Kennebec County's bridges were built
188 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 1
Built before 1900
1 bridges
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 3
1910–1919
3 bridges
- 1920s 4
1920–1929
4 bridges
- 1930s 21
1930–1939
21 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
53 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
37 bridges
- 1970s 13
1970–1979
13 bridges
- 1980s 11
1980–1989
11 bridges
- 1990s 9
1990–1999
9 bridges
- 2000s 10
2000–2009
10 bridges
- 2010s 10
2010–2019
10 bridges
- 2020s 7
2020–2029
7 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 5 years older than the Maine average of 1970.
How Kennebec County compares with Maine's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Maine counties nearest Kennebec County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.3% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 6 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 15 Maine counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| York County | 236 | 32.6% | 58.1% | 9.3% | 1976 |
| Aroostook County | 229 | 17.9% | 71.6% | 10.5% | 1970 |
| Kennebec County (this page) | 188 | 19.1% | 67.6% | 13.3% | 1965 |
| Somerset County | 173 | 19.7% | 56.6% | 23.7% | 1967 |
| Androscoggin County | 135 | 41.5% | 48.1% | 10.4% | 1974 |
| Franklin County | 128 | 24.2% | 53.9% | 21.9% | 1968 |
Each share is of that county's own total tracked bridges; peers are the counties with 5 or more bridges whose inventory size is closest to Kennebec County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Kennebec County, both outside Maine so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside ME (188 bridges here).
- Pope County, AR · 188 bridges
- Coos County, NH · 188 bridges
- Socorro County, NM · 188 bridges
- Baker County, OR · 188 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside ME (1965 here).
- Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
- Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
- Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
- Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (25)
BLAKE HILL RD
PoorOver: HOPKINS STREAM
.25 MI SE RT 41, Kennebec, ME
Built 1950 Load: 2.7 t ADT: 147
MARSTON RD
PoorOver: MAINE CENTRAL RAILROAD
.05 MI S JCT COUNTY RD, Kennebec, ME
Built 1928 Load: 8.7 t ADT: 807
EAST SCHOOL ST
PoorOver: MESSALONSKEE STR
0.1 MI NW ALPINE ST, Kennebec, ME
Built 1950 Load: 8.7 t ADT: 767
PLEASANT ST
PoorOver: SEBASTICOOK RIVER
0.1 MI E OF RTE 11&100, Kennebec, ME
Built 1936 Load: 9.4 t ADT: 1,218
BOG RD
PoorOver: FIFTEEN MILE STREAM
0.1 MI NE JCT E BENTON RD, Kennebec, ME
Built 1956 Load: 10.4 t ADT: 134
S FREEDOM RD
PoorOver: 15 MILE STREAM
0.9 MI SE OF HUSSEY RD, Kennebec, ME
Built 1933 Load: 13.3 t ADT: 525
CUSHNOC ROAD
PoorOver: SEVEN MILE STREAM
.8 MI NW JCT US 201, Kennebec, ME
Built 1918 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 151
BUKER RD
PoorOver: BUKER POND OUTLET
0.6 MI SE JCT OAK HILL RD, Kennebec, ME
Built 1950 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 1,131
HALLOWELL LITCHFIE
PoorOver: COBBOSSEE STREAM
LITCHFIELD-W GARD TL, Kennebec, ME
Built 1964 Load: 23.7 t ADT: 1,230
SPRING ST
PoorOver: KENNEBEC RIVER
US 201 OVER KENN RIV, Kennebec, ME
Built 1936 Load: 23.7 t ADT: 8,829
POND RD
PoorOver: WHITTEN STREAM (NORTH)
1.5 MI S TOWNLINE, Kennebec, ME
Built 1931 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 1,867
W RIVER RD
PoorOver: TOWN FARM BROOK
0.8 MI S TOWNLINE, Kennebec, ME
Built 1917 Load: 25.3 t ADT: 2,844
WAUGAN RD
PoorOver: WILSON STREAM
1.2 MI N RT 135, Kennebec, ME
Built 1980 Load: 25.6 t ADT: 1,182
GARLAND RD
PoorOver: PATTEE POND BROOK
0.1 MI SW BENTON TL, Kennebec, ME
Built 1921 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,075
WATER STREET
PoorOver: BOND BROOK
0.25 MI N OF BRIDGE ST., Kennebec, ME
Built 1854 Load: 33.4 t ADT: 8,861
MOUNT VERNON AV
PoorOver: BOND BROOK
0.3 MI N OF BRIDGE STREET, Kennebec, ME
Built 1934 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 13,526
WESTERN AV
PoorOver: INTERSTATE 95 NB & SB
1.6 MI W OF JCT RTE 201, Kennebec, ME
Built 1955 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 16,934
HALLOWELL RD
PoorOver: OUTLET OF WOODBURY POND
1.9 MI NLY RTES 9 & 126, Kennebec, ME
Built 1938 Load: 36.6 t ADT: 1,640
I 95 SB
PoorOver: WEBB ROAD
1.4 MI N OF SIDNEY TL, Kennebec, ME
Built 1959 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 15,250
LYONS ROAD
PoorOver: I-95 NORTHBOUND
0.5 MI W OF JCT RTE 104, Kennebec, ME
Built 1958 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 1,709
RICE RIPS RD
PoorOver: INTERSTATE 95 NB & SB
4.5 MI N TOWNLINE, Kennebec, ME
Built 1959 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 2,726
CHOATE RD
PoorOver: W BR SHEEPSCOT RIVER
0.7 MI E RT 32, Kennebec, ME
Built 1962 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 206
RIVER RD
PoorOver: CARRABASSETT STREAM
0.2 MI N OF JCT RTE 23, Kennebec, ME
Built 1930 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 1,331
BASSETT RD
PoorOver: MILE BROOK
0.4 MI S RT 137, Kennebec, ME
Built 1911 Load: 73.5 t ADT: 622
MILL HILL RD
PoorOver: SEVEN MILE STREAM
0.3 MI W RTE 201, Kennebec, ME
Built 1991 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 59
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.